The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of coating a foodstuff with a particulate material.
Normally, during the coating of foodstuffs on a conveyor belt with particulate material, large amounts of coating material fall off the foodstuff during the coating process and it is important that this excess coating material is reused. In conventional equipment used, for example, in coating frozen fish on both sides with breadcrumbs, excess coating material is normally transported upwards for reuse by means of elevator screws. However, not only are delicate crumbs damaged by screws, but also large amounts of coating material are always in circulation and exposed to the warm air of the environment, which is not desirable since it it important that the coating material should be maintained at as low a temperature as possible. In addition, in the coating of some products using conveyor belts, e.g., ice cream with crumbs, it is desirable to adjust the thickness of the upper and lower layer independently, and even nowadays, coating of certain products with particulate material is carried out manually.
One common method of recirculating excess particulate coating material which falls off the foodstuff during coating on a conveyor belt involves the use of a fixed baffle plate positioned below the lower run of the belt transporting the foodstuff and which extends around and is spaced from the belt trained around the roller at the infeed end and adapted to collect excess coating material and after it has accumulated to a sufficient thickness to contact the lower run of the belt, the excess material is forced along the plate and guided around the belt trained around the roller at the infeed end to form a layer of coating material on the upper run of the belt. However, with this method it is difficult to obtain an undamaged, sufficiently thick and consistently even layer of particulate coating material on the upper run of the belt.